Orwell, George

Skotskii khutor. Perevod s angliiskogo: M. Kriger I G. Struve [Animal Farm. Translated from the English by M. Kriger and G. Struve]

[Germany]: [Publisher not identified], [1949]. Original printed wrappers. Item #255

Octavo (16.5 x 11.8 cm). 79 pages. Text in Russian. A clean copy in very good condition with a lightly spotted title.

A Russian edition of Orwell's masterpiece Animal Farm - the most important work of fictional political satire and an exceptional example of a notoriously fragile production. First, it appeared in Posev, a weekly social and political review, Nos. 7-25, 1949. In 1950 Posev published the first Russian edition in book form. This unknown edition that doesn't bear Posev's imprint could be either a signal edition published prior to 1950 or intended to be secretly distributed among the Russian Soviet soldiers deployed in German-occupied zones.

In one of his letters to Gleb Struve, George Orwell wrote the following "…The Possev people sent me a complete file of the paper containing your translation of Animal Farm. They now want to bring out an edition in book form to distribute in the Soviet Zone. This, of course, would cost money as the copies so distributed wouldn't be paid for. Meanwhile, my agent tells me that he was already in negotiation with some other Russian publisher to bring out a translation. It's all in the air yet, but I've suggested that if he does close with this other publisher, your translation should be used, as it would save time, and I know the translation would be a good one. In that case, I suppose you would be paid something – but, as I say, nothing is settled yet. But at any rate, I shall see to it that the book appears in book form, even if I have to finance it myself…" (letter to Gleb Struve, July 1949).

Scarce. Not in the trade, as of December 2020.

Price: $2,500.00